Slithering climber

The local name for this beauty is "Komberi mookan", which roughly translates as 'Branch-climbing-sharp-nosed-one', but thankfully, the English name is slightly easier on the tongue. The Common Bronzeback Tree Snake (Dendrelaphis tristis) is a great climber and prefers to hang out on the branches of a tree or a tall shrub rather than on the ground. 

It is a common enough snake, and not at all venomous. Of course, if it does bite you, it would hurt quite a bit, but you won't have to run around looking for anti-venin. You are well advised to go to a doctor, though and let her know what bit you. 

The distinctive identifying feature of this snake is the bronze line running along the centre of its body. It is not too clear in this picture, but you can see where it starts, right at the top of the head. The best defence is to make sure you don't disturb this fella to the extent that chomps its jaws on you!

 

Pure water

The city's second desalination plant, and the country's largest, has been operational since February this year. When running to full capacity, this reverse-osmosis based plant at Nemmeli, on the way to Mamallapuram, will supply 100 million litres of treated water every day. To enable that, it takes in a little over 250 million litres of seawater every day from the Bay of Bengal. 

But wait. Doesn't the desalination plant at Minjur also put out 100 MLD of treated water? So how is this the country's largest? Well, the only explanation is that the position is jointly held by these two plants which together provide roughly one-sixth of the city's current fresh water requirements!